Groups360™ Finds Hoteliers and Planners Are Both Exploring Technology Solutions

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Following the free trial period of its GroupSync™ application, Groups360 has uncovered industry-specific needs based on technology use, suggesting that the industry is looking for a better way to source and book meetings with more information up front.

"It's a time of change in the meetings industry. When we opened our doors for a sneak peek of our technology solution, we expected our users to skew toward meeting planners. Instead, we found hoteliers made nearly half of trial users," said Groups360 CEO Kemp Gallineau. "To us, this shows all parties in the industry are looking for technology solutions in this increasingly complex marketplace that can help drive efficiencies. With better information and more qualified leads, we may be able to cut costs across the board."

Of those who accessed the software during the trial period, 100 percent of users went through the sourcing process, utilizing GroupSync smart search tool to find available properties, but only 20 percent went on to generating RFPs. With so many users spending their time on market screening, it became clear that sourcing remains a significant challenge in the current marketplace.

"Among meeting planners, the vast majority of their time and activity was centered on sourcing markets and venues, indicating to us that the choice of destination or particular brand location wasn't an automatic decision," said Gallineau. "While many planners currently choose the same property or brand for every meeting, this may be because the hotel brand only shows properties where they're looking to fill vacancies, or perhaps an intermediary has a relationship that adds bias and determines the properties they recommend, especially in light of commission changes. With an unbiased tool, our trial period users were able to see the reality of the pool of available properties that meet their event needs."

During the free trial period, 50% of users spent most of their time reviewing market information—including anticipated future rates and average group occupancy—as well as 39% viewing hotel property detail and incentive pages, reinforcing the current lack of information for both meeting planners and hoteliers to make the best decision when it comes to sourcing and booking.

To learn more about Groups360 or to take advantage of the GroupSync suite of tools, visit www.groups360.com.